Forté Model 5 on the way

[Feanor]

My point is that I will be interested to see how you feel about the Class D Audio amp once you take some time and listen to a good Class A/B or Class A amp. You opinion may differ from mine and you will go whole hearted back to your trusty Class D amp but then again you might just realize what you missed out on while using it. let us know.

But of course I have had some experience with a good Class A/B amp, my Monarchy SM-70 Pro's. They were high-bias without global feedback.

It's sort of odd. I preferred the Monarchys to my previous Tripath-based Bel Canto amp with about 70% of recordings; when I later got the CDA SDS-258, I still preferred the Monarchys on about 30% of recordings. But here's the thing: the recordings with which I preferred class D amps were the best recording, (i.e. the ones I thought the best regardless of equipment).

However upon the advice of the great guru and opinionator, Morricab, at AA, I decided to give the process at least one more iteration. Morricab recommended the Forte 5 as low cost option that came close to delivering the qualities he like. (OTOH, he had reservations about the Monarchy SM-70 Pro's though not the SE-250 hybrids.)

[Feanor]

My Forté 5 arrived yesterday after a quick transit considering the need for cross-border handling.

My initial impression is that the Forté Model 5 is an easy listen and thus pretty much lives up to its billing. Positive characteristics are:

• A silky, mellow top end that is, at the same time, pretty transparent and grainless
• As smooth mid-range, (some have called it "liquid"), that's especially nice with vocals
• A slightly warm bass, but not too prominent or boomy.

The Forté 5 is a high bias A/B design without global feedback; 100 wpc at 8 ohms. It shares these technical characteristics with my former Monarchy SM-70 Pro's and sound is somewhat similar too, especially the treble and mid-range.

The Forté 5 is a big contrast to my Class D Audio SDS-258. Like most class D's apparently, and some other s/s designs, the SDS has a bright treble that can sound rather shrill with some recordings and upstream components. However I think the SDS has the edge for transparency, imaging, and (I suspect at this point) width & height of soundstage. Further more I feel the SDS has better PRaT, (microdynamics) and a leaner but solider bass. (We have to acknowledge the 20 y/o capacitors might the lessening the Forté 5's performance, especially in the bass.)

But as I'm hearing it at the moment, my big problem with the Forté 5 is that it just sounds kinda boring. I'm not sure whether this is the mellow top end or a lack of PRaT or both -- TBD.

Life has it's trade-offs. Throw enough money at a problem and you might find an ideal solution, e.g. a Pass Labs X150.5. But sort of investment is 'way out of my league.

To be confirmed thru further listening, my assessment of the Forté 5 is that it's a nice choice vs. other older used s/s 100 wpc amps such as NAD, Adcom, or Parasound in the price range. The going price is about $400; (I was lucky to pay slightly less). It is likely to have sweeter, more transparent, less grainy highs than this sort of competition. However I wouldn't recommend it to folks with tube or otherwise warm-sounding upstream components -- the result could be very bland.

The Forté 5 isn't the end of the line for me, (I hope!), but I stick with it for a short while at least. I might experiment with passively bi-amping my MG 1.6 speakers with the Forte 5 on top, (>700 Hz) and the SDS below. The Forté 5 is less sensitive than the SDS but the latter has volume pots so I can trim it to match; (both amps are 47k ohm input impedance).

[harley .guy07]

You might be on to something there. I do remember the bass on my class d audio amp was very good and controlled. It might be the best of bothy worlds to put the Forte up top to get the grain free smooth top end and put the class d on bottom to get the bass that those are known for.

[Feanor]

You might be on to something there. I do remember the bass on my class d audio amp was very good and controlled. It might be the best of bothy worlds to put the Forte up top to get the grain free smooth top end and put the class d on bottom to get the bass that those are known for.

So I tried passive biamping my Magneplanar MG 1.6QR's with the Forte 5 on top and the Class D Audio SDS-258 below. Note the the cross over is a rather low about 600 Hz. I was able to use my Dayton Omni-Mic system and the SDS' input pots to equalized the amps' output.

Unfortunately the results were quite disappointing. The SDS restored the tight, controlled bass and the PRaT, that is, stored most of the "life" to the sound. The Forte ensured a mellower high top end than the SDS along. However the most of the midrange and low top were a complete disaster: the sound of brass instruments was tinny and that of strings just plain weird -- this despite that I used the Electri-Q equalized to yield a measurably smooth, flat response. (As usual I roll off the highs smoothly starting at about 4k Hz, down about 5 dB at 10k Hz.) Basically the mids and highs were kind of the worst of both worlds.